Varroa mites can weaken your colony and make your hive susceptible to secondary pests. Oxalic acid is one of the best ways to manage your varroa populations in your hive. Oxalic acid kills 90-99% of the phoretic mites in your beehive. To reach these levels of effectiveness, however, the colony must be broodless. Your beehive […]

Have you ever wondered why one hive may act differently than others? Or maybe why your once gentle hive is suddenly out to sting anything that moves? Hive temperament can be somewhat subjective (as some people are more tolerant of froggy bees than others), however, there is generally variation from one hive to the other. […]

As your child grows through their first few years of life, it’s fun to introduce them to new things. You get to show them the joy of going down a slide, learning to dance, and eating new foods. Kids have to be introduced to new foods gradually, depending on how many teeth they have and […]

Every Time I’ve ever heard anything about American Foulbrood I’ve always heard that the disease comes with an odor. And while this is correct, often, by the time you can detect an odor, the disease has advanced.

There are other ways of telling if you might have American Foulbrood in your hive.

In the 8 years I’ve kept bees, I don’t hear a lot about American Foulbrood. But I think it’s important, especially to new beekeepers, to understand the risks, the investment and the things to be cautious of.

When the worst happens and you lose a hive, it’s hard to know what to do with what’s left behind. Do you try to save the comb so that you can reuse it on another hive? How do you deal with a moth or beetle invasion? What kind of things are safe to use for […]

You have decided you need to feed your bees. Maybe you just installed a package in a new hive, and they have to build out all of the frames. Maybe you just moved a hive to a new location and you want to give them a boost. Maybe you caught a late season swarm and […]

The garden is starting to dwindle. The other morning I woke as the sun was coming up and, I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked as though we had a bit of frost on the north side of the lawn. The tomato plants are turning black and there are dots of gold and red […]

When temperatures rise to extremely high levels, your bees may be at risk. The world is suffering from higher than normal temperatures as the climate crisis rages on, but some beekeepers are also suffering colony losses. Most of the time, bees are best able to control the temperature inside the hive themselves, but when thermostats […]

We’ve been keeping bees for a little over seven years. Over that time, we’ve made an observation that may be purely coincidental, but it’s worth noting. And I’d love to hear what you all think in the comment section. We live in a residential farming community and our property is surrounded by thousands of acres […]

Congregating bees on the front of the hive is called bearding and new beekeepers often panic at the sight. Bees can mound themselves up in layers or form a single layer on a large area of the front of the hive in a reaction to conditions within the hive. Methods that new beekeepers often try include […]

Editor’s note: The information presented below may no longer be relevant or accurate. I have seen the precipitous decline in bee populations while beekeeping over the past 20 years. I recently lost all three of my beehives this past year, more than at any time in my beekeeping career. Yes, I can replace them, but […]

When colony collapse disorder (CCD) hits a colony, the bees literally disappear. You open the hive, and no one is home. No dead bees. No signs of disease. Just nothingness. And its scale is shocking. Some commercial beekeepers have lost thousands of hives in the blink of an eye. The losses have been dramatic enough […]

The first warm, sunny day in early spring when the temperature reaches 45° to 50°F (7° to 10°C) is a great time to pay a visit to your apiary. This first visit of the year involves primarily a quick check of the hives, simply to make sure they are still alive. A trip to see […]

The Polar Vortex landed a blow to the Midwest where Five Feline Farm is located. Many of the beekeepers in this area report a significant loss of colonies over the harsh winter. One beekeeper described opening a hive to find bees appearing frozen in place. The entire colony dead. Our losses are not confirmed at […]